Recommended Specs for media PC

[dareallyst]

Hello guys,
Our church is upgrading our media equipment to be able to show live video during service as well as capture for DVD. We currently have an iMac with dual monitor setup that is primarily used for video editing in FCP.
Since cost is an issue, I'm leaning towards PC for a presentation/capture machine since they are cheaper to add-on & upgrade.
My question for you all is, what are some minimum specs for a machine to handle presentation and capturing (also may need to play a song track through the soundboard on occasion)?

This is my first system to setup so I'm learning as I go here...
My game plan is to run the live feeds from two cameras (Canon XL1 & XL2) into a video mixer (4 ch) as well as run either ProPresenter 4 or SongShow Plus from the PC into the mixer as well. The output is going to be shown on a projector & two monitors on the back wall of the sanctuary, 2 monitors in the Lobby, & also needs to be captured in the PC for DVD sales immediately following the service. I have a ton of questions but for this thread I will limit it to the computer specs...
Thanks

[petereit]

Originally Posted by dareallyst

The [video] needs to be captured in the PC for DVD sales immediately following the service.

To make DVDs available for sale immediately following the service, you'll want to record live from the switcher to a dedicated DVD recorder. When you decide to cut off recording, you finalize and eject the DVD from the recorder, then insert the DVD in a DVD duplicator and start the duplication process.

(Is there a DVD duplicator that records video straight into the DVD duplicator?)

I don't think it would work very well to try to use a PC as your DVD mastering machine since it takes most PC DVD authoring programs a long time to compress and master a DVD.

We don't do DVDs at all. We post all our video online which is far cheaper (no need for dedicated recorder, duplicator or DVD media) and allows for immediate international access. (Comes in handy especially since our Pastor is in the Philippines this week.)

[dareallyst]

Originally Posted by petereit

I don't think it would work very well to try to use a PC as your DVD mastering machine since it takes most PC DVD authoring programs a long time to compress and master a DVD.

Thanks Peter, I will look into getting a DVD recorder. I was wondering about using the PC to master with since I know it usually takes mine & others I've used awhile to render a video and convert file for DVD.
We have a CD recorder that doesn't work too well so I was skeptical about sending the video to that type of device. If it doesn't record for whatever reason, all the footage is lost

[petereit]

You can't record video on a CD recorder. You have to use a DVD recorder. $69.99 at Best Buy.

And you can't duplicate DVDs on a CD duplicator.

[dareallyst]

Originally Posted by petereit

You can't record video on a CD recorder. You have to use a DVD recorder.

And you can't duplicate DVDs on a CD duplicator.

Lol I know, I was just saying we have one (CD recorder) and while recording the sermon, it stopped gave a write file error which meant we lost that message. It happened a few times so we finally start recording to a laptop using audio editing software. So because of that, I would hate to send the video to a DVD recorder and it fail causing us to lose that recording.
It may be overkill but I'm thinking of splitting the signal and send it to the PC capture device as well as to a stand alone DVD recorder just to be on the safe side.

[zactommo]

What peterit means is that if you dvd's to be available straight after the service, then no computer is going to be fast enough to encode the video and burn it to DVD for it to be available straight after the service.

You can get HDD/DVD recorders that record to both at the same time, which gives you a backup. I'm guessing since you're talking about xl 1s & 2s then you'll want 16:9. I've yet to find a hardware DVD recorder that will flag SD clips for anamorphic 16:9, which can be a problem. There are other ways around that problem, but they're not easy.

[Gracetech]

I had putting out anything that isn't cleanly produced so for that reason we have a sign up sheet for DVD's. We can capture to PC and then clean it up before dumping it down to DVD for duplication. I know with all the consumerism everyone thinks they need it "NOW!" but honestly how many are going to go home right after church and watch the DVD?

I wanted to point out that you basically are asking on PC to do three jobs which will walk on each other. You need a dedicated PC for video capture. A dedicated PC for Worship presentation. Now you can possibly use the presentation PC to play audio depending on how things are done. Otherwise you will want a separate PC for Audio playback as well.

For Video capture you will want a pretty stout 4 core or better machine with 4g or more ram and fast drives. You will want to have a OS drive and capture disk/s.

For the presentation PC you will want the fastest 2 core you can stomach with around 4g of ram and a couple of fast drives. Any thing more than 2 cores will be a waste. On the drives you will want to have a OS drive and a Media drive.

On the Audio playback if you decide to do this separate you can use just about anything. Two track audio playback is very light weight work.

crt

[petereit]

Originally Posted by dareallyst

Lol I know, I was just saying we have one (CD recorder) and while recording the sermon, it stopped gave a write file error which meant we lost that message. It happened a few times so we finally start recording to a laptop using audio editing software. So because of that, I would hate to send the video to a DVD recorder and it fail causing us to lose that recording.
It may be overkill but I'm thinking of splitting the signal and send it to the PC capture device as well as to a stand alone DVD recorder just to be on the safe side.

Might not be anything wrong with your CD recorder. I've seen that happen with a bad spool of CD-R's.

I highly recommend recording to DVD and simultaneously capturing to the PC. I even have my guys record to tape on the cameras just to be safe. Spend the money on the highest quality media for your master DVD. You can use the cheaper stuff for your duped copies.

[Ebroach]

Originally Posted by petereit

We don't do DVDs at all. We post all our video online which is far cheaper (no need for dedicated recorder, duplicator or DVD media) and allows for immediate international access. (Comes in handy especially since our Pastor is in the Philippines this week.)

Hello Mark, Looked at your video on your website. Good job. Could you share your hardware list for your video, how you process and who/how you are sharing the Archived videos on your website.

We stream our services but I am not pleased with our Archive/ondemand videos..

Looking to change how we are processing etc.

[petereit]

JVC GY-HD250U camera in 720p mode
HD-SDI to Panasonic AV-HS300G switcher
HD-SDI to BlackMagic Decklink HD card in our 8-core Mac Pro, captured to ProRes codec
Edited in Final Cut Pro
Convert to H.264 using Compressor to get the file size to just under 2GB
Upload to Vimeo.com for hosting and archival

[dareallyst]

Originally Posted by zactommo

What peterit means is that if you dvd's to be available straight after the service, then no computer is going to be fast enough to encode the video and burn it to DVD for it to be available straight after the service.

Yeah I was sorta figuring that from past experience, but wasn't sure after looking at some PC capture cards & devices. Some state that it saves as it's capturing, but you still have to convert the file for DVD and that will take awhile.

You can get HDD/DVD recorders that record to both at the same time, which gives you a backup. I'm guessing since you're talking about xl 1s & 2s then you'll want 16:9. I've yet to find a hardware DVD recorder that will flag SD clips for anamorphic 16:9, which can be a problem. There are other ways around that problem, but they're not easy.

Can you please explain this a little more? I'm not familiar with the term anamorphic. I know the video will be SD and not HD but what is the problem you mentioned? Thanks

Originally Posted by Gracetech

I had putting out anything that isn't cleanly produced so for that reason we have a sign up sheet for DVD's. We can capture to PC and then clean it up before dumping it down to DVD for duplication. I know with all the consumerism everyone thinks they need it "NOW!" but honestly how many are going to go home right after church and watch the DVD?

I wanted to point out that you basically are asking on PC to do three jobs which will walk on each other. You need a dedicated PC for video capture. A dedicated PC for Worship presentation. Now you can possibly use the presentation PC to play audio depending on how things are done. Otherwise you will want a separate PC for Audio playback as well.

Thanks for the feedback. I agree with editing it before selling it, but some services it will need to be available immediately after. For instance, when we have a guest speaker/church. Those people are not going to be at the next service so if they want the DVD it will need to be available to them right then.
Thanks also for the specs you mentioned for each machine. I would hate to ask them to buy more computers so I'm trying to utilize what they already have. They mentioned moving the iMac out to the video/audio booth once it's ready so I may use it to capture straight into FCP and use one of the existing PCs for presentation. As for playback... the problem we have now is that they have quite a few CDs of instrumentals that they use when the musicians are not there (we have 7 services a week) and so they are constantly shuffling through the pile of CDs looking for certain tracks and of course someone didn't put the CD back in the case and so on so its a headache. I want to put all the tracks on a MP3 player or on a computer for easy access and not have to worry about shuffling through CDs. A computer would be ideal so when they sing off more than one track, I can put all the desired tracks in a play list and not worry about changing out discs.

Originally Posted by petereit

Might not be anything wrong with your CD recorder. I've seen that happen with a bad spool of CD-R's.

I highly recommend recording to DVD and simultaneously capturing to the PC. I even have my guys record to tape on the cameras just to be safe. Spend the money on the highest quality media for your master DVD. You can use the cheaper stuff for your duped copies.

I thought that it might had been the spool as well, but they sent it off to the shop and the shop could not duplicate the problem (which further points to a bad spool). The recorder can record to CF also so I recommended they record to that and then master a CD from the CF and if it fails, they could always put the CF in a card reader and pull the recording off for output through the computer.

As for the DVD recording, doing the simultaneous recording is sounding like the way to go. We currently record to tape and then capture it later in FCP so we may keep recording to tape as well. We can always record over the tapes once we know that we have a good copy on the computer. Thanks again for your feedback.

[dareallyst]

Also Mark, sorry for messing up your name in that first reply. I assumed it was Peter from looking at your handle, not realizing that was your last name.